DBMS > 4D vs. FileMaker vs. ObjectBox vs. Realm

System Properties Comparison 4D vs. FileMaker vs. ObjectBox vs. Realm

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines

Name

Description

Application development environment with integrated database management system

FileMaker is a cross-platform RDBMS that includes a GUI frontend.

Lightweight, fast on-device database for IoT, Mobile and Embedded devices, persisting and synchronising objects and vectors

A DBMS built for use on mobile devices that’s a fast, easy to use alternative to SQLite and Core Data

Primary database model

Relational DBMS

Object oriented DBMS
Vector DBMS

Document store

Secondary database models

Time Series DBMS

DB-Engines Ranking measures the popularity of database management systems
Trend Chart

Score	2.37
Rank	#110	Overall
	#54	Relational DBMS

Score	45.20
Rank	#20	Overall
	#14	Relational DBMS

Score	1.08
Rank	#179	Overall
	#6	Object oriented DBMS
	#9	Vector DBMS

Score	7.18
Rank	#52	Overall
	#8	Document stores

Website

www.4d.com

www.claris.com/filemaker

github.com/objectbox
objectbox.io

realm.io

Technical documentation

developer.4d.com

www.claris.com/resources/documentation

docs.objectbox.io

realm.io/docs

Developer

4D, Inc

Claris

a subsidiary of Apple

ObjectBox Limited

Realm, acquired by MongoDB in May 2019

Initial release

1984

1983

2017

2014

Current release

v20, April 2023

19.4.1, November 2021

4.0 (May 2024)

License

Commercial or Open Source

commercial

Bindings are released under Apache 2.0

Apache License 2.0

Open Source

Cloud-based only

Only available as a cloud service

DBaaS offerings (sponsored links)

Database as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.

Implementation language

C and C++

Server operating systems

OS X
Windows

iOS

client part only
Linux
OS X
Windows

Android
Any POSIX system
Docker
iOS
Linux
macOS
QNX
Windows

Android
Backend: server-less
iOS
Windows

Data scheme

yes

Typing

predefined data types such as float or date

yes

yes, plus "flex" map-like types

yes

XML support

Some form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.

yes

A http query request can return the data in XML format

Secondary indexes

yes

SQL

Support of SQL

yes

close to SQL 92

yes

via plugins

APIs and other access methods

ODBC
RESTful HTTP API

by using 4D Mobile
SOAP webservices

Filemaker WebDirect
JDBC
ODBC

Proprietary native API

Supported programming languages

4D proprietary IDE
PHP

PHP

C
C++
Dart (Flutter)
Go
Java
Kotlin
Python
Swift

.Net
Java

with Android only
Objective-C
React Native
Swift

Server-side scripts

Stored procedures

yes

runs within the applications so server-side scripts are unnecessary

Triggers

yes

Change Listeners

Partitioning methods

Methods for storing different data on different nodes

none

Replication methods

Methods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodes

Multi-source replication

Source-replica replication, warm standby

since Version 14

Data sync between devices allowing occasional connected databases to work completely offline

none

MapReduce

Offers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methods

Consistency concepts

Methods to ensure consistency in a distributed system

Immediate Consistency

Foreign keys

Referential integrity

yes

Transaction concepts

Support to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of data

ACID

Concurrency

Support for concurrent manipulation of data

yes

Durability

Support for making data persistent

yes

In-memory capabilities

Is there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.

yes

In-Memory realm

User concepts

Access control

Users and groups

simple rights management via user accounts and connection to external directory services

yes

More information provided by the system vendor

News

MongoDB Realm & Device Sync alternatives – ObjectBox
17 September 2024

Local AI – what it is and why we need it
11 September 2024

First on-device Vector Database (aka Semantic Index) for iOS
24 July 2024

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) with vector databases: Expanding AI Capabilities
18 June 2024

The on-device Vector Database for Android and Java
29 May 2024

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More resources

DB-Engines blog posts

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Recent citations in the news

Efficiency leap: Migration from old FileMaker software to gFM-Business increases company performance
19 September 2024, openPR

Problemista - Features
1 March 2024, Reverse Shot

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1 March 2024, IndieWire

Apple subsidiary FileMaker returns to its original name from the ’80s
6 August 2019, The Verge

Claris’s Plans for FileMaker Bode Well for Individual Users
23 August 2022, TidBITS

provided by Google News

Is Swift the Future of Server-side Development?
12 September 2017, Solutions Review

Java Synthetic Methods — What are these ?
27 February 2021, DataDrivenInvestor

Kotlin Programming Language Will Surpass Java On Android Next Year
15 October 2017, Fossbytes

provided by Google News

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